The companies officially let the cat out of the bag this morning. As suspected, the deal will operate under the name Clearwire, even though Sprint is putting the most money into the investment (51 percent of the total). Comcast, Intel, Google, and Bright House Networks are all contributing money as well.

Clearwire’s shares climbed 12 percent with word of the news in pre-market trading this morning. Sprint’s went up 5.5 percent.

Once finished, the WiMax network should be able to cover entire cities with high-speed access. Engineers say it’ll end up being about five times faster than the short-range WiFi currently available.

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USA Today is reporting Sprint and Clearwire will join forces to create a nationwide “Wi-Max” network — a concept basically like Wi-Fi, except reaching across much bigger areas. The report claims Google, Intel, Comcast, and Time Warner are all in on the deal.

The new company would start building the giant network under the name Clearwire, according to USA Today. Altogether, the six companies’ investments are said to add up to a cool $3 billion, $500 million of which is from Google.

An announcement could come as soon as tomorrow.

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